The debut of Legends completes La Costa’s second golf renovation project in the last three years. Both were under the direction of Pascuzzo & Pate Golf Course Design. The remodeled Champions Course opened in 2011.

“The Legends Course gives golfers a completely different type of golf course to play at La Costa,” said Pascuzzo. “It’s fun and interesting, with different visuals and some subtle nuances, especially around the greens. Golfers will really be challenged to use their imaginations.”

The Legends Course project has created a spacious layout — it is more open than Champions Course — while providing a complementary set of strategic challenges and a variety of visual encounters.

The bentgrass greens on the Legends Course have been redesigned and enlarged so they now average 5,000 square feet. The green complexes present a variety of challenges and offer numerous options for approach and recovery shots. The greens at four holes – No. 1, 12, 15, and 17 – have been relocated, some slightly, some dramatically.

Bunkering has been completely redesigned and reconstructed, as well as reduced in number. In contrast to the Champions Course, the bunkers on the Legends Course are shallower, with lower faces and are less visible by design, although a few deeper bunkers are featured around the greens.

All tees also have been entirely rebuilt, and in many cases reshaped to provide more room and options. And adding a fifth set of tees allows the Legends Course to play from 5,029 to 7,025 yards. Fairways now feature paspalum turfgrass – a salt-water-tolerant grass that provides favorable, cushioned lies – and have been widened. Fairway expansion is most notable at the par-4 15th hole, where the landing area on the sharp dogleg left was expanded 16 yards to the right and the cart path rerouted.

“We have a lot of respect for La Costa’s original design and have maintained its integrity,” said Pascuzzo,